YMMV / Oculus

• Accidental Aesop: Sometimes misremembering the past is better. Tim may have forgotten the supernatural aspects of his childhood experiences (simply chalking it up to their dad having an affair which drove their mother insane, before the dad went insane himself), but seems much more well-adjusted than Kaylie, whose more accurate memories of events have driven her to obsession to "prove" herself and her memories real. Had Kaylie not pressured Tim into joining her crusade and remembering what really happened, he probably would have gone on to live a normal life.
• Complete Monster: The Lasser Glass mirror has driven many dozens of people to murder and violent suicides to sate its hunger for suffering. Purchased by the Allen family, it takes the form of a former victim to seduce the father and drive both parents insane, killing them and nearly murdering their children Kaylie and Tim. When Kaylie and Tim later attempt to destroy it years later, the mirror brutally tricks Kaylie into killing her fiancé and later Tim into murdering Kaylie, seeing him arrested while showing him his family's tormented souls.
• Narm: Tim's final lines are pretty corny for such a dramatic moment: "It wasn't me! It was the mirror! You have to believe me!"
  • Although, it could be Narm Charm in a depressing way, as you see Tim, who recently got his life back, gets to see it taken from him again by the mirror. And seeing his sister dead from the killswitch, he'd probably be pushed to the very brink of despair, the grief of losing his sister being too much for him to handle, making him lose his mind.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • Any time the characters pop up with "mirror eyes".
  • Karen Gillan's death rattle is a little too realistic.
  • Witnessing both of your parents going batshit crazy (while you're a child, no less), is pretty damn nightmare-inducing.
  • The scenes where the now-deranged parents separately try to strangle both their offspring are disturbingly realistic.
• Paranoia Fuel: Who’s to say you’re not being influenced by the mirror right now? You might think you’re sitting at your computer, or on your cell phone, but maybe you’re just being led by the mirror like a puppet on a string...
• Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: One of the biggest criticisms from the film's detractors accuse the movie's plot of being too full of Ass Pulls to make sure the protagonists lose.
• The Woobie: Kaylie and Tim, so much so.
  • Their parents count too, as they were shown to be Happily Married until the mirror came along.
  • Michael, too. Went to check on his fiance' and got stabbed in the neck for his troubles.
    • Michael's death was likely a hallucination since Kaylie never told Michael why she was acting strange, and where she was going for the next couple of days. She just promised him things would go back to normal afterwards. Even if it was, his fiancee is now dead, seemingly at her brother's hands.
  • Alan's father, too. He only has a fleeting appearance, but it establishes that he knew his grandkids were upset and convinced something very alarming was happening, and (likely due to the mirror's influence) he accepts Alan's claim that it's no big deal. Mere days later, his son and daughter-in-law both die violently and his grandson is locked up in a mental ward, leaving Grandpa Russell to blame himself for not intervening. Plus, if he lived long enough, he'd have to face his granddaughter's evident murder by his grandson, too.

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